If you stopped by for our Tuesday Heart&Home gathering this week, you likely read about the trip I will take to Guatemala one month from now as part of a team with WorldHelp and their Operation Baby Rescue initiative. {read all about the mission here}
Earlier this week Noel Yeatts, WordHelp’s Vice President, spoke at Liberty University‘s convocation service. I wasn’t there in person, but watched the message last night, and can’t shake it. And nor do I want to shake it.
It’s stirred up that fire in my spirit and I just long for you to take some time.
You may have already read the plea on my rescue page, a word of appreciation for your time, because I know you’re busy. You have things to do,
Things that have to get done because we have to work and eat and shop and exercise and bathe our children and change diapers and make phone calls and send texts and maintain relationships and all that. I know.
I know it takes time to hear out the world’s problems. And money, there is always a sacrifice of money.
Yet more than time or money, the world’s problems, those dark things, the brokenness, the poverty, the pain, if I open my eyes to watch, or rather to really see, they take so much emotion.
via noelyeatts.com
They take my comfort.
Rob my security.
Twist my well-formed worldview.
And turn them all upside down and inside out and make my life all messy and uncomfortable.
And then what good can I really do, really, at the end of the day, when my world is turned upside down and I’m still stuck living in it?
In the message, Noel says, “It’s much easier to be numb, to forget the unimaginable circumstances happening all over the world.”
She also says, “I believe that God, in all of His mystery, has chosen us to meet the needs of the world. That’s His plan…
….But in order to make that kind of difference, you have to be willing to take a risk. You have to be willing to step beyond what you know and open your eyes to a hurting world.”
I’m sure you have some fun plans in place for the long weekend ahead. A Labor Day cook out maybe. A movie, perhaps. A date night. All good things.
image via: noelyeatts.com
Would you consider taking 30 minutes out of your weekend activities to step beyond what you know, to listen to a message that will stir your heart? You will be the better for hearing.
I hope you won’t stop there, at reading or at giving financially or even at whispering a prayer, though I long for you to do all of those things. I hope you will enter into the story fully, through risk-taking, faith-shaking, heart-breaking action. The story that is not simply mine or theirs or someone else’s to tell or to live, but HIS, lived out through us.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder…
… As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:14-19, 26)
I don’t have this all figured out, this tension of understanding the injustice of my comfortable life in the midst of a world broken and bruised by hunger and disease and war and evil.
But I want to make the choice to live my faith ALIVE, not dead. Fully awake, as Noel puts it.
Will it be messy?
Draining?
Overwhelming?
Uncomfortable?
Risky?
Yes.
Fulfilling?
Miraculous?
Restorative?
Purposeful?
Beautiful?
Life-giving?
Life-changing?
Yes.
So, friend, is it worth the risk?
Will you join me?
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Sharing at Faith Filled Fridays, Fellowship Fridays, My Hazardous Faith Story, Better Mom, The Wellspring, On In & Around Mondays, MamaMomentsMondays, DeniseInBloom, & Hear It Use It
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I have never heard of this organization, but, my–how you’ve moved my heart. We sponsor three children throu Worldvision and I so wish we could give to all these good causes. Thank you for sharing this with me. Adding my prayers.
Laura: So blessed to know you’re sponsoring. WorldHelp, WorldVision, & Compassion are all truly incredible organizations on the front lines as the hands and feet of Christ. So it’s all for Him, right? Thank you for praying… that means the world to me. blessings, l